Clarksville, TN – Thankfulness and gratitude are expressions of emotion that come into focus this week, in our thoughts and conversations, wherever people gather to reflect, or even alone in silence.
We have arrived at another season of Thanksgiving in Clarksville and Montgomery County and all over our great, and free nation.
Often, it is viewed as the official kickoff to the Christmas season, but Thanksgiving, in and of itself, needs and deserves to receive its due for what it represents.
Thanksgiving Day — Thursday, November 23rd — is an annual national holiday based on celebration of the harvest and blessings of the past year.
We generally trace our observance to the 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists, called Pilgrims, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Wampanoag tribe of people who were native to that area.
Through the centuries the celebration became steeped in a series of traditions of legend, and symbolism, and so often today, we whimsically call it “Turkey Day.”
But we gravitate to the question each year of, ‘What are we thankful for?’
In many households, that question becomes the foundation for prayers of gratitude, to remind us of from where we have come.
For me, the source of my prayers of thankfulness starts in the home. I am thankful to be married to a woman of faith. My wife, Cynthia, sets a standard for Godliness in our home, that is genuine, and transcends family and community.
Together, Cynthia and I are thankful for the bountifully-enriching opportunity to share our lives and our respective family legacies with our five children, and 13 grandchildren.
Next to our faith, there is no greater fulfillment than family.
We are thankful for the community. The term primarily means people. Family, good friends, and acquaintances, all of whom come together in a common goal to do their part to make Clarksville, Tennessee, a collective home where we can all raise our families and be close to them.
And I am deeply grateful, and thankful, for the opportunity to serve as the Mayor of this City that I grew up in, and will always love and cherish.
This is the community we have built together.
We have our challenges, and in many cases, they are good problems to have.
We talk a great deal in Clarksville about growth. There are projections of adding at least 90,000 net, new people to our community by 2040.
We already know that Clarksville is the fastest-growing city in Tennessee, when we measure year-over-year population growth. In one year alone, we added more than 6,000 people.
Where are they coming from, and why are they coming to Clarksville? There is no single answer to the question. But we know that it is because of what we naturally, and uniquely have to offer, not because we are openly recruiting the growth.
People from elsewhere look at Clarksville, and they see a lower cost of living, opportunities to attend excellent schools, and no-less important, they see people here who are welcoming by nature, to a mix of both military and civilian population sectors.
In short, we are, yes, a growing community, but also one that infinitely cares, and values diversity with hometown appeal. That resonates with a world that is hungry for love and acceptance, and an opportunity to live out the dreams we all have.
May this week, and this holiday season be a time when we, as we always do, not only look inwardly at our own needs and those needs of our own families, but also, to the greater needs of Clarksville’s city-wide family.
As with every community, there are those among us in Clarksville who are trying, but still struggling, in various ways. May each of us answer the call to stand in the gap at this Thanksgiving, for everyone. May we love and support our neighbors – our fellow Clarksvillians.
Let’s also especially remember our troops, who will celebrate this Thanksgiving at duty stations around the world, and in many cases, apart from people they know and love.
And for those family members left at home while their loved ones are away, let’s open our doors to support them, as we always do, and remind them that we are all in this together, as Clarksvillians.
This is Thanksgiving … a celebration not just of how we are blessed as Clarksvillians, and Americans, but also of how we have the privilege of blessing everyone around us.
God bless you, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Joe Pitts, Mayor
City of Clarksville
